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Law360 (October 30, 2020, 10:59 PM EDT ) A D.C. federal judge ordered the U.S. Postal Service on Friday to increase services at its election mail processing centers in more than 20 districts across the country, including Central Pennsylvania and Fort Worth, Texas, so that millions of American ballots can be delivered before Tuesday's election.
U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan said the order targets regions that have recently seen slower processing times for inbound ballots, including Alabama, Alaska, Greater Michigan and Oklahoma.
Beginning Friday, the judge also ordered the USPS to submit a document each day explaining potential reasons behind the current level of service and any corrective measures that have been implemented.
USPS spokesperson Dave Partenheimer told Law360 on Friday that the organization takes its legal obligations "very seriously" and is complying with all court orders.
The USPS also issued a statement Friday outlining how it's expediting delivery of ballots and using "extraordinary measures" including extra deliveries and special pickups of election mail.
The NAACP sued the USPS and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in August, demanding that the Postal Service halt recent changes made by DeJoy.
DeJoy, who was appointed in May, announced an operational pivot in the summer that allegedly enforced significant restrictions that have delayed mail service across the country.
According to a separate lawsuit filed by a group of states, removing mail-sorting equipment and eliminating overtime are also among some of the changes that occurred, which they say have slowed delivery and threaten to leave mail-in ballots uncounted. But the Trump administration claims any USPS delays incurred are thanks to the pandemic.
In its suit, the NAACP requested the judge to restore timely mail delivery services to ensure mail-in ballots receive priority status similar to past years. Judge Sullivan granted the NAACP's request in late September and blocked the USPS' changes that aimed to reduce the number of late and extra trips.
But according to court documents, data from the USPS shows the service's diminishing on-time service score fails to comply with the order.
"More granular, district-level service scores show the same picture: 92.5% of the USPS districts had lower service scores than the six-month average from before the July 2020 Policy Changes," the NAACP said in an October memo.
Counsel for both parties and representatives for the NAACP did not immediately respond to Law360's request for comment Friday.
The NAACP is represented by Allison M. Zieve of Public Citizen Litigation Group and Samuel Spital of NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund.
The USPS and Louis DeJoy are represented by Joseph E. Borson, Kuntal Cholera and John Robinson of the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Division.
The suit is NAACP v. U.S. Postal Service, case number 1:20-cv-02295, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
--Additional reporting by Hailey Konnath. Editing by Breda Lund.
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